How much do tradies actually earn in Australia?

The short, honest answer

A fully qualified tradesperson in Australia generally earns a comfortable full-time wage, and the better-paid half of the trades comfortably beat the typical Australian pay packet. But there is a real spread. Electricians, diesel mechanics and plumbers sit near the top. Hairdressers, chefs, motor mechanics and painters sit at the lower end, at least on base wages. The rest land somewhere in the middle, and a few of those middle trades swing hard depending on whether you work for wages or for yourself.

Rather than lock in dollar figures that go stale, this page ranks the 15 trades in bands, based on the median full-time earnings published on the Australian Government's Your Career occupation profiles (yourcareer.gov.au), which draw on Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Every trade's profile is linked in the sources below, so you can pull the current number for yourself in about a minute. Median means the middle of the pack: half earn more, half earn less. Real pay changes with experience, location, overtime, and whether you stay on the tools for a boss or run your own business.

Where the 15 trades sit: the honest pecking order

Here is how the trades on this site stack up against each other on median full-time earnings for qualified workers, grouped into bands rather than exact dollars. Within each band the gaps are small enough that overtime, location or a single extra ticket can reorder them. Between the top and bottom bands, the gap is large and real.

• •Top band: electrician. Consistently the benchmark trade for pay, with steady demand and a licence that keeps supply tight.
• •Top band: diesel mechanic. Heavy vehicle and mobile plant work pays near the top of all trades, and mining and FIFO diesel roles can out-earn almost everyone on this list.
• •Top band: airconditioning and refrigeration mechanic (HVAC). Strong, steady money, helped by the licensing needed to handle refrigerants.
• •Top band: plumber. Consistently near the top, and self-employed licensed plumbers push well past the median.
• •Upper middle: carpenter. Solid earnings, heavily tied to how busy building work is.
• •Upper middle: welder and metal fabricator. Decent base pay, and mining, manufacturing shutdowns and FIFO can lift it a lot.
• •Upper middle: auto electrician. Sits clearly above general motor mechanics, and the gap widens again on mine sites and heavy plant work.
• •Middle: bricklayer. Often paid per brick or per job, so a fast, fit brickie can earn well above the median.
• •Middle: wall and floor tiler. Modest on wages, but most experienced tilers price per square metre, and a quick tiler running their own jobs can earn well above the published figure.
• •Middle: plasterer. Similar story to tiling: middling on wages, with piecework and self-employment doing the heavy lifting for the top earners.
• •Middle: cabinet maker. Steady workshop wages in the middle of the pack, with the bigger money coming from running your own joinery or moving into supervision or production management.
• •Lower band: motor mechanic. One of the lower-paid trades on award wages, especially in general servicing, though specialist and heavy vehicle work pays better.
• •Lower band: painter. Lower base pay, though self-employed painters with their own clients can do noticeably better.
• •Lower band: chef. Award wages are modest for the hours and pressure, and a lot of the weekly income comes from penalty rates for nights, weekends and public holidays. The path up is real but slow: sous chef, head chef, then executive chef or your own venue.
• •Lower band: hairdresser. The lowest starting point on this list on published medians. The catch most rankings miss: pay grows with your client book, senior stylists on commission out-earn the median comfortably, and renting a chair or owning a salon changes the numbers entirely.

The bands are not the whole story

Two things stop this ranking being the final word. First, the middle band is where self-employment swings hardest. Tilers, plasterers, bricklayers and cabinet makers on wages sit mid-pack, but those trades run on piecework and subcontracting, so the spread between a slow worker on wages and a fast one pricing their own jobs is wider than in almost any other band.

Second, the lower band is a starting point, not a ceiling. Hairdressing and cookery both have genuine ladders: a senior stylist with a loyal book or a head chef running a kitchen earns money that the median for their whole occupation completely hides. If you love that work, the band should not scare you off on its own. Just go in knowing the first several years are the lean part, and the ladder takes effort to climb.

What you get paid as an apprentice (the lean years)

This is the part the pay ads skip. As an apprentice you earn while you learn, but the pay is deliberately low at the start and steps up each year as your skills grow. You are not on the qualified earnings above until you finish, which usually takes three to four years depending on the trade.

Apprentice pay is not a single national number. It is set by the award (or enterprise agreement) that covers your trade, and it depends on three things: which year of your apprenticeship you are in, your age, and whether you are a junior or an adult apprentice (an adult apprentice generally started at 21 or older and is paid more).

Because it varies so much, do not trust a figure off a forum. Put your exact trade, year and age into the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool (linked below) to see the real minimum for your situation. Also check whether you qualify for government apprentice incentives and living-away or travel support, which can add up over the first year or two.

Why the published number is not what hits your bank account

A median wage is a starting point, not a promise. A few things push your real pay above or below it:

• •Overtime and penalty rates: a lot of tradies lift their income well past the base by working Saturdays, early starts and shutdowns. In hospitality it is the reverse pattern: chefs and cooks rely on nights, weekends and public holidays to lift a modest base. That money is real, but it costs you time and your body.
• •Location and industry: the same welder, electrician or diesel mechanic earns far more on a mine site or a big infrastructure job than in a suburban workshop. FIFO and resources work pay a premium for a reason.
• •Employee versus your own ABN: subcontractors and business owners can charge more per hour, but they also cover their own tools, vehicle, insurance, super, sick days and quiet weeks. In tiling, plastering and bricklaying, subcontracting is close to the default once you are experienced.
• •Licences and specialisation: extra tickets (for example high-voltage, gas, refrigerant handling, confined spaces, heavy vehicle) open higher-paying work.
• •The spread is wide: within any single trade, the gap between the lowest and highest earners is large. The median hides both the strugglers and the standouts.

The real earners: going out on your own

The tradies pulling serious money, well above the medians, are usually the ones who stopped working for someone else. A licensed electrician or plumber running their own jobs, a tiler or plasterer pricing per square metre with a couple of subbies, a cabinet maker with their own joinery shop, or a hairdresser who owns the salon instead of renting the chair: that is where the biggest incomes on this list actually live.

Be honest with yourself about the trade-off. Running a business means chasing invoices, quoting on weekends, carrying insurance and tools, and wearing the risk when work dries up or a client does not pay. Not everyone wants that, and plenty of very good tradies choose a steady wage and knock-off at 3pm over the stress of running the show. Both are valid. Just know that the biggest incomes almost always come with owning the business, not just holding the qualification.

The downsides worth knowing before you commit

This is a genuinely good career path for a lot of people, but it is not free money, and it is fair to weigh the costs:

• •The apprentice years are lean. You will likely earn less than mates who went straight into full-time work or retail, for three to four years, before it pays off.
• •It is physically hard. Early starts, heat, heights, confined spaces, hours on your feet in a salon or a hot kitchen, and years of wear on your knees, back and hands. Some trades are tougher on the body than others.
• •Pay is not uniform. As the bands show, choosing hairdressing, cookery, painting or general motor mechanics over electrical, diesel or plumbing can mean a real difference in lifetime earnings unless you climb the ladder or go out on your own.
• •Work can be cyclical or antisocial. Building trades rise and fall with construction activity, and hospitality pays its best rates precisely because the hours are nights, weekends and public holidays.
• •The median is not guaranteed. Half of workers earn below it. Hitting the top of your trade usually takes extra tickets, overtime, the right industry or your own business.

How to check the numbers for yourself

Do not take any ranking, including this one, as gospel. Wages move each year and vary by state and employer, which is exactly why this page sticks to bands instead of dollar figures. Before you commit to a trade, do two quick checks.

First, look up your chosen trade on its Your Career occupation profile (all 15 are linked below) to see the current median earnings and future demand. Second, if you are about to start an apprenticeship, run your exact details through the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool so you know the minimum you should be paid from day one. Ten minutes of checking now beats a nasty surprise on your first payslip.